5 Reading to write or search for information needed for writing
Classroom activity in which students read to gather information that they can use in a subsequent writing tasks.
6 Reading to critique texts
This reading activity has a purpose to integrate information. It is slightly same with reading to write which requires abilities to compose, select, and critique
information from the text. 7
Reading for general comprehension It is almost basic purpose for reading, underlying and supporting most other
purposes for reading.
2.6 Problem Faced by Students in Reading
Reading is very important part in people’s lives. Through reading, people can explore the world, the countries that have never visited, and the mind and
ideas of great people in the past; they can enrich their experiences and their knowledge and broaden their horizon.
To the students, reading is also something crucial and indispensable since the success of their studies depends greatly on their abilities to read. If students’
reading skills are poor, they are very likely to fail in their studies, or at least, they will have difficulties in making progress. On the other hand, if the students have
good reading abilities, they will have a better chance to succeed in their studies at school.
For Indonesian students reading an English text is rather difficult, since reading in the students’ native language and reading in a second language is a
quite different matter. Reading in their own language is easier than that of the language learned because they have mastered the vocabulary and the structure.
Reading in the target language such as English is difficult for them. They are required to have adequate knowledge of the target language, which has the
different system including vocabulary and structure. Students who have mastered the components of the language will not face the significant difficulties when they
are reading materials beginning from the low levels up to the higher ones. Grabe and Stoller 2002:41 describe some differences between first language and
second language reading: The differences between L
1
and L
2
reading contexts, however, go beyond number of studies and limitations of research
methodology. L
2
reading must account for issues that are qualitatively different from L
1
issues. L
2
learners, while learning to read, must broaden their linguistic knowledge, deal with
transfer effects, and learn to use L
2
-specific resources e.g. translation, glosses, bilingual dictionaries, among many other
factors. All of these factors suggest that L
2
reading is quite different from L
1
reading. Ramelan 1990:2 states that reading at schools is not usually adequately
treated. When the students have been acquainted with the writing system of the language and exposed a lot of reading materials, it is taken for granted that they
have automatically acquired the reading skills. The fact that is they do not usually
get enough guidance in acquiring the proper reading habits, such as reading phrases in a sentence, not word by word, reading at great speed without stopping
at each point, or going back and forth one sentence to another. Nowadays, students usually get difficulties in reading. They do not know
the intention of a passage because they have just skimming and scanning skills but comprehension skills. Sukaria Kustaryo 1988:10 says that a comprehension skill
involves understanding the vocabulary, seeing the relationship among words and concepts, organizing the ideas, recognizing the author’s purpose, making
judgments, and evaluating. The weaknesses of the students in reading skills are unquestionable. They
lack prior knowledge, a very important foundation in getting the gist of the paragraph.
Sometimes, after reading a text, students do not know the topic of the text. They cannot understand the paragraph. In fact, they have must proper and correct
understanding of the key words and the structural relationship of the words in order to understand the paragraph.
To solve these problems, the teacher should help the students comprehend printed materials and support them with the knowledge and the ability to enable
them to read other materials out of class.
2.7 The Elements of Reading That can Influence Teaching Reading for
